After we picked him up from Plia Del Ray and headed to Roscoe's for Chicken and Waffles. We heard about this place for years so it's about time we see what the hype is all about. We passed a couple of guys hustling their rap cd in front of the restaurant before sitting down to order. Paul and Kurt ordered the chicken and waffles while I ordered chicken, eggs and grits. I had no idea what I was ins tore for but I felt adventurous. The food was really greasy and grits lacks flavour even though I melted a golf ball of whipped butter into. Overall, I would have to say that I'm not a big fan.
Our first destination was Griffith Park. We drove a windy road up to the observatory perched at the top of mountain with a great view of the city.
Kurt wanted to show us Japantown in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. As a local resident, he helped us avoid the worse of the traffic, I don't know how local residents deal with it all the traffic all the time. Downtown LA is where all the buildings taller than three floors are. After a work day, the city's core becomes empty. Japantown is where the civic center is located and it's going through a revitalization. Kurt was hoping to show us the real crappy area of town but all the homeless were gone. There use to be people living in boxes and huddled around flaming garbage drums. Japantown was really clean and the old buildings are being converted to condo's. If I had to live in LA, I would buy into this area, property will go up just like Yaletown in Vancouver and the Pearl District in Portland. After cruising around for a couple of hours we headed up to Mulholland Drive.
The road snakes up the hills overlooking the Burband and the movie studio's such as Disney and Universal. We stopped at a look out point looking over the city, the congested highway and the distant mountains. The homes up on Mulholland are for the affuent–they're almost like mansions with amazing views. Further up the mountain, when the road becomes dirt, is one the coolest things I've seen in Los Angeles–an abandoned missile launch pad!
During the cold war when America and Russia was going toe to toe, there was a fear of a nuclear missile attack. One of the prime targets was Los Angeles so as a counter measure, they built a missile defense system on top of the hill on Mulholland Drive. After the coldwar, they converted it into a look out area.
The area is beautiful, you can see all the nice homes dotting the mountain side or ride the mountain bike trail that stretches for miles. We were up there as the sun began to set, casting a warm glow all around us. It was stunning.
We ended the day by going back to Santa Monica for dinner with our generous Los Angeles hosts John, Stacey and Kurt. They gave us a place to stay and played tour guide for our stay in LA.
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